Alternative CV

Alternative CV

Dr Paul Tern works as a doctor by day, but in his spare time he finds and interviews people who have chosen to pursue more unconventional careers, hobbies or side projects. Focusing on the Asian context where traditional professional careers still rule, he explores the stories of individuals who have bucked the trend and built an alternative CV. Join him for some far-reaching conversations as he listens to their journeys, explores varied and interesting fields, and ultimately unearths advice and wisdom that we can all learn from. Come and be inspired - new episodes every Thursday.

Episodes

August 11, 2021 42 mins

BIO
Dorothea Koh is the founder and CEO of a healthcare technology company, Bot MD. Bot MD is a mobile-based AI chatbot that provides an interface for doctors to quickly access information related to hospital policies, formularies, check who’s on call etc. Along with her founder YC, Dorothea started Bot MD back in 2018 and joined Y Combinator’s summer 2018 batch. Prior to starting Bot MD, Dorothea rocketed up through the ranks ...

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BIO
Dorothea is the founder and CEO of a healthcare technology company, Bot MD. Bot MD is a mobile-based AI chatbot that provides an interface for doctors to quickly access information related to hospital policies, formularies, check who’s on call etc. Along with her founder YC, Dorothea started Bot MD back in 2018 and joined Y Combinator’s summer 2018 batch. Prior to starting Bot MD, Dorothea rocketed up through the ranks at M...

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Dr Daniel Ting is the Consultant, Vitreo-retinal surgeon in the Singapore National Eye Center (SNEC), Head of AI and Digital Innovation in the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), and an Associate Professor in Ophthalmology with Duke-NUS Medical School Singapore. He is also the visiting Full Professor in Ophthalmology in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Eye Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, China; 2017-2018 US-ASEAN J. W. Fulbright Scholar t...

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Dr Ngiam Kee Yuan is the Group Chief Technology Officer of the National University Health System (NUHS) Singapore overseeing technology deployment in Western Healthcare Cluster of Singapore. He is concurrently the Deputy Chief Medical Informatics Officer at the National University Hospital of Singapore and has a special focus on artificial intelligence research and implementation in healthcare. He has certification training by the ...

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Dr Deborah Wong is a mother, general practitioner, entrepreneur and fitness guru. Shortly after graduating from medical school, she took over a pilates studio (Breathe Pilates), turned it around and expanded it into a successful and highly profitable chain with 4 locations across Singapore. Breathe Pilates is unique in offering training programmes for pilates instructors in addition to standard pilates classes. Deborah maintains a ...

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BIO
Dr Deborah Wong is a mother, general practitioner, entrepreneur and fitness guru. Shortly after graduating from medical school, she took over a pilates studio (Breathe Pilates), turned it around and expanded it into a successful and highly profitable chain with 4 locations across Singapore. Breathe Pilates is unique in offering training programmes for pilates instructors in addition to standard pilates classes. Deborah main...

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In this masterclass with A/Prof Ong, we discuss the fundamentals of leadership and mentorship.

BIO
A/Prof Ong Biauw Chi is Senior Consultant at Singapore General Hospital Department of Anaesthesiology. She was the Head of Anaesthesiology, SGH from 2009 till 2014 and the Director of Patient Safety and Director of Clinical Governance in Singapore General Hospital for a period of 9 years. She is also appointed Chairman Me...

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In this episode, A/Prof Ong Biauw Chi and I discuss her on-the-ground style of leadership and the journey she took to become Chairman of the Medical Board in Sengkang Health.

ABOUT A/PROF ONG
A/Prof Ong Biauw Chi is Senior Consultant at Singapore General Hospital Department of Anaesthesiology. She was the Head of Anaesthesiology, SGH from 2009 till 2014 and the Director of Patient Safety and Director of Clinical Govern...

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In this episode, Dinesh gives a masterclass on raising angel investment for your startup. He also shares his perspective as an investor on how he evaluates founders and companies who have approached him for investment.

BIO
Dr. Dinesh is a practicing medical doctor and scientist. He completed medical training at the National University of Singapore, during which he received the Wong Hock Boon Society for Research Distin...

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I talk to Dr Dinesh Gunesekaran about his experience getting involved in a research project that used big data to gain insights into tuberculosis infections of the eye. From there, Dinesh got approached at a medical conference by his cofounders who wanted to start a telemedicine company. Dinesh shares his story about building his company, Doctorbell, and eventually selling it in 2018.

BIO
Dr. Dinesh is a practicing med...

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I speak to Buzz Palmer, Dario Heymann and Audrey Lok about how COVID-19 has reshaped the playing field for healthtech and medtech startups. We discuss interesting opportunities and ideas for founders to explore.

BIOS
Buzz Palmer (CEO, Medtech Actuator)

Buzz Palmer is one of Australia’s leading and most visible voices in entrepreneurship and MedTech innovation. Buzz is the co-founder and CEO of the MedTech Actuator,...

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I talk to Prof Francis about why we should do research, how to build a world class body of research work and how to go to attain the highest levels and become an internationally recognised expert.

Dr Francis Seow Choen graduated with his MBBS in 1981, despite listing medicine as the fourth choice for admission. He obtained his FRCS in 1987 as an orthopaedic trainee, and thereafter immediately switched to general surgery, t...

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In this podcast, I talk to Prof Francis Seow about how to approach learning when starting out in a completely new field; what it means by leading a "balanced life"; as well as how to be a useful leader.

Dr Francis Seow Choen graduated with his MBBS in 1981, despite listing medicine as the fourth choice for admission. He obtained his FRCS in 1987 as an orthopaedic trainee, and thereafter immediately switched to ge...

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Mr Abel Ang is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Advanced MedTech Holdings, a US$200M global player in Urology devices and services. Previously, Abel has also served as the Senior Advisor to the CEO of Greatbatch Inc (NYSE: ITGR), as well as President, Asia/Pacific for Hill-Rom Inc. a US$3B revenue medical devices company (NYSE: HRC) where he was responsible for leading, developing and implementing the strategy to expand Hill-Ro...

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August 25, 2020 2 mins

I promised to be back on August 6 but better late than never... Alternative CV is RELAUNCHING with Season 2!

New this season:

  •  In addition to the usual guests who have pursued interesting hobbies / side projects and careers, I make a special effort to focus on medical professionals who have done cool stuff alongside their medical careers, as well as more entreprenuers.
  • Each week, my guests will teach a masterclass on a useful life...
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April 10, 2020 5 mins

Alternative CV takes a break, until August 6th. Work commitments have increased with the COVID outbreak, and I have to focus on what's most important right now, which is caring for patients.

Sign up to the email newsletter at http://alternativecv.fm/ to be notified when we're back with Season 2.

Until then - stay safe, and be responsible with social distancing!

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Alvin and I discuss how he built an online audience and transformed his blog into a business. Alvin also gives a crash course on insurance and investing, and he shares some tips about how he curates the information he takes in.

Alvin Chow is the CEO of DrWealth, an online platform providing investor education and portfolio management tools. What started as Alvin’s personal blog has grown to a full suite of offerings, and t...

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On this podcast, I talk to Alvin Chow about 0ur motivation behind the financial choices we make, effective strategies to approach a brand new subject area you want to learn about, and Alvin's journey from hobby personal finance blog to full-time company.

Alvin Chow is the CEO of DrWealth, an online platform providing investor education and portfolio management tools. What started as Alvin’s personal blog has grown to ...

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On this episode, I speak to Brennan Ong about his entrepreneurial journey, and how he ended up leaving the legal profession to start a law tech startup.

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About a year ago, I caught up with Ali Abdaal, who is a junior doctor in the Cambridge (UK) area who makes youtube videos about tech, productivity and tips for medical students. At that point in time had 200k subscribers on his Youtube channel. Today, he has more than 550k.

This episode contains some golden advice from Ali about how to get started on any project. It's especially useful for those thinking about startin...

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